Abstract
We report on an indium-free and cost-effective Cu2O/Cu/Cu2O multilayer mesh electrode grown by room temperature roll-to-roll sputtering as a viable alternative to ITO electrodes for the cost-effective production of large-area flexible touch screen panels (TSPs). By using a low resistivity metallic Cu interlayer and a patterned mesh structure, we obtained Cu2O/Cu/Cu2O multilayer mesh electrodes with a low sheet resistance of 15.1 Ohm/square and high optical transmittance of 89% as well as good mechanical flexibility. Outer/inner bending test results showed that the Cu2O/Cu/Cu2O mesh electrode had a mechanical flexibility superior to that of conventional ITO films. Using the diamond-patterned Cu2O/Cu/Cu2O multilayer mesh electrodes, we successfully demonstrated TSPS of the flexible film-film type and rigid glass-film-film type TSPs. The TSPs with Cu2O/Cu/Cu2O mesh electrode were used to perform zoom in/out functions and multi-touch writing, indicating that these electrodes are promising cost-efficient transparent electrodes to substitute for conventional ITO electrodes in large-area flexible TSPs.
Highlights
Superior flexibility[11,12,13,14,15,16]
Kim et al reported the low sheet resistance (6.197 Ohm/square) and high transmittance (90.65%) of Cu honeycomb mesh covered by Al-doped ZnO film, the high reflectivity of Cu metal grid is still problem to use as transparent electrodes for TSPs19
These Ag-based OMO electrodes have been extensively explored due to the very low resistivity caused by the Ag interlayer and the high transmittance caused by the antireflective effect of the dielectric/metal/dielectric structure, there have been no reports on the use of mesh-patterned OMO multilayers as transparent and flexible electrodes for flexible Touch screen panels (TSPs)
Summary
Superior flexibility[11,12,13,14,15,16]. the poor adhesion of Ag NW networks, their non-uniform topography, easy degradation, and their instability against static electricity is a critical problem for Ag NW network electrodes[14]. OMO multilayer films such as, ITO/Ag/ITO, IZO/Ag/IZO, and IZTO/Ag/IZTO still contain the high-cost elements of indium and silver These Ag-based OMO electrodes have been extensively explored due to the very low resistivity caused by the Ag interlayer and the high transmittance caused by the antireflective effect of the dielectric/metal/dielectric structure, there have been no reports on the use of mesh-patterned OMO multilayers as transparent and flexible electrodes for flexible TSPs. In particular, the development of indium-free Cu-based OMO multilayers of mesh structure is imperative to substitute conventional high-cost ITO- or Ag-based OMO multilayers to enable cost-effective flexible capacitive-type TSPs. In this work, we investigated the electrical, optical, and mechanical properties of mesh-patterned Cu2O/Cu/Cu2O multilayer electrodes grown by using roll-to-roll (RTR) sputtering and RTR-based wet-patterning at room temperature. The capacitive-type flexible TSPs with Cu2O/Cu/Cu2O multilayer grid were successfully operated, thereby demonstrating the possibility of using cost-effective Cu2O/Cu/Cu2O mesh electrodes to replace conventional high-cost ITO electrodes or Ag-based OMO electrodes
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